The Hot Grandma (or Grandpa) Workout

Have you ever met someone older than yourself, then learned their true age and thought “WOW, I hope that when I am that age, I’m still moving like that!”. It’s crazy how differently people can age. One person may be only 40 or 50 having trouble with basic mobility such as walking, and another person may be 90 still living on their own doing all their own house work and driving. Once we get past a certain age, we base our evaluation of others less on a number and more on what people are capable of doing.

I always joke with my boyfriend that the true reason I work out is to be the “hot soccer mom” when I hit 50 years old. But I got to thinking the other day, once I reach that milestone, then what will my goal be? Naturally, it came to me that the only logical progression would be to shoot for “hot grandma” status and thus the idea for this workout was born.

Physical therapy is a profession of movement patterns. My job is to analyze the way people are moving and teach them how to fix it to be better able to complete their daily tasks. Through my experience thus far, I have stumbled upon some common themes in the older adults who end up requiring physical therapy and can’t help but think that in many cases these encounters can be avoided.

First and foremost, falls are a huge reason for older adults seeking medical care. As you get older, your sense of balance typically starts to decline. This can be due to weak muscles, poor eye sight, aging nerves, just to name a few. Unfortunately, people often don’t realize that their sense of balance is off until it’s too late and they have already taken the tumble of a life time. Falls are BAD. People don’t realize that the actual fall is just the surface of the problem. Not only can you receive a head injury or break a bone, but those injuries can lead to a long stay in the hospital which leads to weaker muscles from laying in bed or can line you up to catch a series of common hospital diseases such as pneumonia and it is a very quick downward spiral. One day your ice-skating with your grandkids, the next thing you know you can’t get off of your sofa by yourself. Trust me, I have seen it way to many times.

Secondly, older adults simply start having a harder time with transitions: walking long distances, standing up from chairs, bending down to pick something up, going up stairs. These are all daily tasks that requires just a little more muscle power that we take for granted in our younger years, but they are very important actions in terms of remaining independent in taking care of yourself and remaining socially active in the community. Nobody wants to give that up.

So how do you make sure you’re the hot grandma on the block who walks to her mailbox in her cheetah print cardigan rather than riding her scooter to the mailbox in her night gown?  You have to be proactive.  Hot grandmas and grandpas use it, they don’t lose it. These are my recommendations for some simple activities to do on a daily basis to make sure your 80 looks like the new 60. I would say if you are over 50 years old and have noticed any actions such as these starting to get a little bit more challenging, then you could benefit from these exercises! Heck even I do them, there is no shame. If you don’t do anything else exercise related, do these. 

#1 Toilet Squats:

The typical person goes to the bathroom at least 3 times per day. Why not attach a simple exercise to something you already do on a daily basis? You would be surprised how many older individuals have to buy extensions to make their toilet seat higher because they can no longer get on and off it. Not only are you practicing a skill that you will need to keep sharp for the rest of your life, but it is basically the same thing as doing bodyweight squats at the gym and EVERYONE could benefit from those. This may seem like a silly idea but it works, I’ve tried it. Every time you go to the bathroom (after you have done what you need to do…) sit down and stand up from the toilet seat 10 times. Four trips to the bathroom equals 40 squats, they add up quick! And the best part is, the bathroom is typically a judgement free zone to do a quick exercise in, AND as you get older you will have to use it more (aka even more squats!)

#2 Step Aerobics

Pull out your sweatbands, leg warmers and leotards and take a trip back in time. Just kidding you don’t have to do any of that (unless you really want to get into the spirit). Steps are a great exercise and the best thing about them is that they are everywhere. Most people have at least one step up into their home. Many people have a second story. You need to go up steps to get to many restaurants and stores, and curbs on the road and in parking lots are just steps in disguise! Try to use the steps whenever you can even when you have the option to use an elevator instead. If you have a step at home you can turn this into an easy exercise by stepping up and back down again. Or you could do this in the park and really rock it. You can choose your favorite song and step to the beat. You can step up sideways, forwards and backwards. If you get really good you can add in turns. On step may seem easy to some people, but see if you feel the same after a 3 minute song. Not only does it strengthen your legs, but if you can keep it up for a prolonged period of time its a good fat burning activity and good for your heart. If you are extreme you can use the stair stepper machine at a gym.

#3 Journey Across the Parking Lot

When ever you go out to a restaurant, store, etc. make a conscious effort to park as far away from the building in the parking lot as you can. A lot of times, older adults stop going shopping for themselves and have to rely on someone else because they don’t feel they have the endurance to walk the necessary distances to complete the trip. You may say “but I don’t have time! I’m always in a hurry!”. Realistically, we are talking about adding 5 minutes tops to your trip. Most parking lots are not a 10 minute walking distance wide. You can do it! If you really want to see the difference this makes, even if you don’t have a Fitbit or similar device, most smart phones have a function to keep track of steps. Plus you can have the pleasure of walking past that perfectly able bodied person still waiting to get a front row parking spot even though there’s a bunch open just a hundred feet away.

#4 Kitchen Kicks

A lot of balance issues actually come from the weakness in the muscles that surround your hips. For some reason, these are common “first to go” muscles when it comes to aging. It is really important to keep them strong because they are what keeps you from falling over when you try to balance on one leg. You may say “well I never balance on one leg so I’m fine”. Try walking without picking one of your legs up off the ground…..even if it is brief, in that brief second if your hips are weak, while your other foot is stepping you could lose your balance. Throw in a dog toy that you didn’t see until a moment too late or a loose rug and it could be game over.

These are some really common exercises P.T.’s give to individuals who need to work on balance. They are perfect because you can do them while holding on to a counter top. As I mentioned earlier, attaching an exercise to something you do every day makes it easier to remember to do them consistently. I do these anytime I am heating something up in the microwave or if I am cooking something on the stove. They only take a few minutes but after a couple you definitely feel the burn. The slower and more controlled you do them, the harder. (P.S. try to stand completely up straight and don’t move anything but your leg)

#5 YouTube Yoga

Contrary to popular belief, standing on your head is not an entry requirement to a yoga class. There are many levels of yoga and you can get a personal class for free right off of your computer, tablet, or phone. I have read countless studies showing that participation in even beginning level yoga or tai chi greatly improves balance in older adults and therefore can reduce risk of falls. This is because many of the simplest poses or motions in these modes of exercise practice standing on one foot, slow controlled shifting of your weight from one leg to the other, and transitioning from one position to the other without losing your balance (exactly what older individuals begin to lose as time goes on). Additionally, as we get older our muscles begin to stiffen especially if we do not use them as much as we should and it makes it harder to stand up straight and perform certain actions. Remaining flexible can provide a huge advantage to remaining active as an older adult. Even just doing a gentle stretch yoga video while seated on the ground can be beneficial, not to mention it is an awesome stress reliever. You can search on Youtube for a yoga video that fits your comfort level and needs. Like I said, the options are endless!

If you can work these into your day to day routine, you will be practicing daily all of the essential movements you need to keep spry and rock your later years. While I appreciate all of my readers and am sure you are all great people, I don’t want to have to see you in my physical therapy clinic! I rather you be out embarrassing your children/grandchildren by performing step aerobics to Frank Sinatra in a public park or listening to their groans as you park an extremely far distance away at T.J. Max. When they knock on the bathroom door because they realized giving you 5 seconds alone was too much, you tell them to back off because grandma’s doing squats. Join me in forming the new generation of H.G.’s (hot grandparents). Show the world that staying active isn’t just for the youngin’s.

 

 

Meal Plan 2/19/18-2/23/18

The struggle has been real to keep up with food prepping during the last two weeks of my final clinical rotation of physical therapy school…. but victory is so close I can taste it! My week was also filled with the taste of these easy recipes. Check them out!

Breakfast: Peaches and Cream Oatmeal with Blueberries

I used the Walmart brand for oatmeal because lets face it, I’m cheap. But this flavor actually tastes really good if you are a fruity flavor fan. Adding the blueberries makes an “instant” breakfast seem more refreshing.

Lunch: Spaghetti with Meatless Meatballs and Mushrooms

Optimally I would try not to use frozen premade foods too often because they have a high sodium content, but these meatless meatballs are amazing. I tossed them in with some vegetarian spaghetti sauce. You can boil the mushrooms in the same pot you are cooking the pasta in to save time and dishes and they turn out just fine. Mix it all together and you have got some quality vegetarian comfort food to stuff your face with at work.

Dinner: Vegan Curry

I used a recipe via this video provided by my friend Emily 🙂

I must admit that I discovered I am not a die hard curry fan after eating it for 5 days straight, but I can imagine someone who is much more into spicy things would love this recipe. It was suggested to me to add Sriracha to enhance the flavor and the heat. I also used vegetable stock instead of water.

Meal Plan 2/5/18

This week I opted for simpler recipes because as you may be able to infer by this late post, life got in the way. But even when you have a busy week scheduled, meal prepping and eating healthy is still possible! You may just have to take a few short cuts.

Breakfast: Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Sushi

A recipe of my own design. Take a whole wheat wrap and slap some peanut butter on there (2 knife scoops worth- official culinary terminology). I then sprinkled some coconut shavings on it (because I had some left over from another recipe, I’m not actually that fancy that they are a household staple). And then you roll a banana up in the wrap and slice it like sushi. Voila!

Lunch: Sofritas Rice Bowl

I learned how to make this on Pinterest, but then simplified the recipe down a bit. To make this, you scramble your pressed tofu in adobo sauce. I have yet to be able to find just adobo sauce on its own in the grocery store. The place to find it is in the international food isle in the Latin food section. They will sell it in a can that says “chipotle peppers in adobo sauce” you just remove the peppers and use the sauce they are in. (If anyone knows where I can find the sauce alone without wasting the peppers, let me know) Warning: Adobo sauce is spicy (hence the peppers) so if you prefer mild, go light on the sauce or you will be trying to eat this while typing work notes at lunch with snot running down your face, true story. Anyways, next you saute the tofu with what ever vegetables you would like to include in your bowl. Then just add it to some rice.

Dinner: Vegan Veggie Burger and Fruit Smoothie

I always keep some veggie burgers on hand for times when I don’t feel like cooking a meal. Also, they are a great way to be a part of BBQ’s with your friends when you don’t eat meat. And that’s the best part… they aren’t meat, so they come frozen and you only have to heat them up for a few quick minutes on the grill or in a toaster oven. For the smoothie you can add what ever fruit you want or even add some protein powder as well.

I didn’t include a picture of the cooked burger because, well, it just looked like a burger. I thought it would be more useful to include the brand of burger I usually get. They sell these at Publix, Walmart, and I’m sure other places as well in the frozen isle.

Meal Plan 1/29/18

Breakfast: Fruit and Nuts

I didn’t follow any specific recipe for this. Just threw some nuts and fruit I picked out at the store together. I had some leftover Crasins so I threw those in there too. You can mix and match to put the fruits you prefer.

Lunch: Teriyaki Tofu with Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes

To make the tofu, slice and press for about 30 minutes then marinate for another 20-30 minutes. (I don’t always have time for the marinade, its smothered in teriyaki sauce, its going to taste good even if you only let it sit for 10). Then sear the tofu in a non-stick pan until the outside is caramelized. You can use basically any sauce you would put on chicken on tofu.

Green beans = from can (no salt added version)

I was really excited to make these homemade mashed potatoes because I used rosemary that I personally picked from a an actual rosemary plant at my boyfriends house. And that is as close as I’ll ever get to being on the Food Network. Don’t ask me what a “sprig” of rosemary is… I guess-timated. I also left out the vegan cream cheese because that wasn’t in my budget. They taste just fine without it.

https://www.thissavoryvegan.com/creamy-vegan-rosemary-mashed-potatoes/

Dinner: Pesto Veggie Pizza

I used the recipe below, but I added more vegetables and some vegetarian sausage. I also left out the “pepitas” or pumpkin seeds, but I would be curious to see if including them changed anything. My only tip for this recipe would be to make the “cheese” first in your food processor or blender and then the pesto. You have to make sure the blender is completely dry before making the “cheese” or it gets kind of clumpy and doesn’t sprinkle as nicely over the pizza. Otherwise it turned out very tasty.

https://www.delishknowledge.com/vegan-pesto-pizza/

Snack: Cheerios in Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

As a vegetarian, I often fall short in the iron department. Original plain cheerios are fortified with iron (50% of suggested daily intake) and have little to no sugar, so a lot of times I’ll eat them as a snack. Then I make sure I get enough calcium through the almond milk.

 

Meal Plan 1/21/18

Breakfast: Veggie Egg Breakfast Muffins

I wanted to make a vegan version of this, but could not find the supplies at my local Walmart. I made them with onion, green pepper, and spinach, but you can add what ever veggies you like and they are easy to add meat too if you prefer. I also added nutritional yeast instead of cheese.

http://tophealthysystem.review/gallery/healthy-breakfasts/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: Zucchini Hummus Wrap

It would look a lot prettier if you could see the inside. I swapped out the red onions and added green peppers as I am not a raw onion fan and used a sun dried tomato tortilla. I believe these taste the best if you pop them in the toaster oven before eating!

http://www.maebells.com/grilled-zucchini-hummus-wrap/

Dinner: Tofu “Chicken” Nuggets and Sweet Potato Fries

This one tricks me into thinking I’m eating junk food when I’m not. I definitely ate more fries than are pictured here. I just started eating them before I remembered to take a picture, whoops…

https://thecookiewriter.com/quinoa-crusted-tofu-nuggets-tofu-chicken-nuggets/

http://momsneedtoknow.com/baked-sweet-potato-fries/#_a5y_p=3898490

 

A Tortoise Named Metabolism

My father likes to say that in helping to pay for my tuition to physical therapy school he is making an investment. He said all he asks in return is to be first in line when I develop the cure for aging. That request always makes me laugh because I am going to school to be a practicing clinician and have absolutely no experience in experimenting with miracle molecules in a lab. Though I did receive a good education in physiology, he may have been better off helping to pay for a PhD in chemistry or biology. I would love to make his wish (which I’m sure everyone else on the planet shares) come true, but maybe working as a physical therapist is not that far off.

Aging is a process of slowing down. Everything slows down! Even at the ripe old age of 24 years old I can tell you that. As age goes up, you move slower, you recover slower, you heal slower, and sometimes our brains work slower. Where are the car keys again? Or as my dad once famously quoted after a particularly ambitious dive in a volleyball match against his children, “My brain is still good at volleyball, my body just doesn’t want to follow directions.”

It is easy to curse at the wind about these changes and ask WHY WHY WHY? But you might be surprised to know that there is actually a reason why. Just when you think the human body is done amazing you, you look a little deeper and find out you have only scratched the surface. The beauty (and at times the horror) behind the human body is that the tiniest most insignificant thing has a purpose and is infinitely woven in to countless other bodily processes. Mess with one thing and there will be a huge cascade of unforeseen consequences. No wonder no one can come up with a simple cure for aging!

To illustrate my point on why our bodies slow down, I will be using the old proverb of the Tortoise and the Hare. We all know the story: the hare is so fast and confident that he can win, that he becomes careless and ends up getting distracted while the tortoise slowly but surely wins the race, right? Well believe it or not this is similar to what your body is doing when your metabolism slows down.

When we are young, our body is in “hare mode” if you will. Thousands of processes are going full speed so that our bodies can grow and grow into a healthy adult, but this is our body’s mission during that period of our life and it has the resources to do so. Occasionally a “distraction” will get thrown in the mix and something will go wrong with the growing process, but for the most part our body is bringing its A-game to keep everything on track and keep up a good pace to make sure everything is ready in time for adulthood.

But the hare doesn’t win the race of life, the tortoise does. When we reach adulthood, our body doesn’t necessarily need to have all that going on anymore. The race isn’t over, we still have a long way to go, but there aren’t as many important check points to make as there was in childhood and adolescence. Creating things quickly is no longer a huge survival factor. So our body opts for endurance and we enter “tortoise mode”.

Metabolism is defined as the sum of all the chemical processes going on in your body. The fuel for these processes is the food you consume which is broken down into tiny parts and each nutrient is shipped to the parts of the body that needs it to do their job. But when these processes slow down and we continue to eat the same amount and type of food we did when we were teenagers, your inventory of supplies gets overstocked and your body starts storing the extra material (AKA fat and weight gain).

Why can’t the chemical processes just keep up their original pace? I know many of us would gladly agree to keep up a high school football player’s diet if this were the case, but slowing down is actually a protective factor. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter and tried to cram for an exam or quickly finish an assignment? You have been working non-stop and eventually you start making mistakes or get distracted. You go ahead and try pulling an all-nighter for over 20-30 years. Not a chance.The same thing happens when your body tries to keep up with its 18 year old pace when you are in fact no longer 18.  Your body forgets to get rid of this molecule, it cuts this molecule in half at the wrong place, this cell gets burnt out and dies, or your body creates an extra cell or two (or in some cases a whole lot more). Because everything in your body is so complexly related, a couple of those tiny “oops” moments, just like the hare’s few quick naps along the track, can build up to a big “oops” moment and that is all it takes for something to go seriously wrong. The same thing happens when you are overly stressed, malnourished, or when you under sleep. This isn’t a good game plan when you are aiming to reach 100 years old. You can’t just fail the class and retake it, that isn’t how life works. So instead, your body slows everything down to take its time so that it will make less mistakes and keep you healthy. (In medical terms, these big “mistakes” you are avoiding sound like excessive free radicals, cancer, fractures, chronic illness, etc.) In the end, mistakes still happen. It’s a way of life, but which would you prefer, a wrinkle or a life threatening disease?

(nerd jokes)

So we should just be thankful our body knows what it is doing and let it take its natural course right? I like the sound of “natural course”, but just kicking up your feet on the sofa and watching this all go down isn’t the “natural course”. If you are familiar with evolution you are aware that it is a very slow careful process. Human evolution is the same. We were designed to be hunters (highly active!) and gatherers (have to search for food! Food may not be readily available for prolonged periods of time!). Our metabolism is still in the caveman days, in survival mode where it readily stores food for famine and expects us to be moving around all day. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen on our couch or in our cubicle at work. Maybe one day when we live on Mars we will be able to look like supermodels while doing that, but not today.

Even if you have made peace with your tortoise, you can still cheer him/her on for the rest of the race to keep up a decent pace. This comes in the form of actually living more like our ancestors: remaining active and eating the quantity and quality of food that is just enough to keep us healthy and alive. Which translates roughly in modern day English to: Diet and Exercise!

Now that story time is over, lets bring it home with some facts.

Scientists are currently still looking for that magic cure for aging to maintain a “younger” metabolism while keeping the human body’s system from breaking down over time. Amazingly they have found a bunch of substances in the body that play a huge role in aging. Some of these include growth hormone (GH), Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), AMPK, thyroid hormone, FOXO, and the alphabet soup goes on and on (these people are seriously geniuses). But every time they fix one link in the chain, something gets messed up somewhere else and the three blind mice (or their diabetically mutated cousins) end up worse off than they started. These scientists deserve a lot of credit and they are working hard on it, but the cure for aging is still a ways off. There are a lot of kinks to work out. Until then, here are some things you should know about diet and exercise as a middle aged to elderly adult.

Caloric restriction is one of the oldest tricks in the book. The goal is to take in the same or less calories than you use in one day to maintain or decrease your weight. You can look up a calorie calculator online to help you estimate how many you burn per day based on your age, gender, and activity level. Some studies have found that practicing this type of diet actually optimizes levels of some of that alphabet soup leading to a healthier you in more way than one. But older individuals do not store nutrients the same way that young individuals do and need to be aware of a few key nutrients in addition to their calories.

Firstly, older adults tend to stop storing their fat subcutaneously (right underneath their skin) and start storing it viscerally (in the center of their body around their organs). This results in your typical apple shape or “beer gut” look. A little bit of fat around the organs is a good thing and can be protective, but too much can put a lot of pressure on vitally working parts such as the heart and can lead to a heart attack. You have to watch the fat content you consume to make sure you are not overloading your organs and performing aerobic exercise (like walking, jogging, biking) can strengthen your heart to keep it pumping strong.

Secondly, older adults build muscle slower and lose muscle faster. This means if you lose a lot of weight as an older adult, a greater percentage of that weight loss will be lost muscle mass compared to a younger person who lost the same amount of weight. This means that if you plan on losing weight, exercising is an absolute must! Lifting weights (or other forms of resistive exercise) can help build muscle to safely counteract the loss of lean mass you may experience when trying to lose weight as an older adult. Even though its harder to gain muscle it doesn’t mean it can’t be done, it just takes consistency, a solid plan, and motivation. In fact studies have shown that even 80+ year olds can gain a significant (respectively) amount of muscle mass when put on an appropriate strengthening program. If grandma or even great-grandma can do it, so can you! And remember I said way earlier that muscle mass uses up some of the most energy in the body? The more muscle mass you have, the more energy it requires to maintain it (in other words a metabolism boost!).

Lastly, it is important to make sure that if you cut down your calories to diet you are taking in enough calcium, protein, and vitamin D. Older individuals, especially women (due to decrease of the female hormone estrogen following menopause which actually plays a role in bone growth) are at increased risk for osteoporosis. (guys you have estrogen too, it just remains more constant in lower amounts, and you lose testosterone which makes it harder to build those guns from the glory days) “Osteo” means bone, and “poris” means holes. You have to keep feeding your bones the supplies they need to keep themselves strong. When your body doesn’t get enough of these nutrients, your body will actually start taking them from your bones and sending them to where they are needed most (your heart uses calcium to contract, which in comparison is way more important to your life than avoiding a broken ankle or even a hip). That can lead to weak bones which can lead to injuries that earn you a seat on the bench for quite a while and before you know it you are back at square one with a slower tortoise. Exercise plays an important role here too. When muscles pull on bone, they stimulate the bone to reinforce itself and become stronger. The stronger your muscles become, the more they pull on the bone and the stronger the bone becomes and so on. Every time you perform an exercise you are creating this beneficial pull on your bones to make them healthy and strong.

In conclusion, when you find yourself wishing that your metabolism would be a hare instead of a tortoise, remember that these changes happen for a reason and that it doesn’t mean you are out for the count. You can in fact win the race if you put your mind to it. The moral of this story is that as an aging adult, a controlled diet is very important, but that complimenting it with strengthening and aerobic exercises is absolutely essential. Make sure that this component isn’t missing from your game plan! And if you find yourself facing an illness, disease, or injury that comes along with aging, it doesn’t mean that you are out for the count either. Just seek professional advice before starting a diet or exercise program so that it can be properly adapted to your needs. See dad, I guess you are a smart investor. As a P.T. I am in the business of fighting aging after all. At least you have the best model until those scientists figure all that alphabet soup out.

Works Cited

Barzilai, Nir, et al. “The critical role of metabolic pathways in aging.” Diabetes 61.6 (2012): 1315-1322.

From <https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C10&q=the+critical+role+of+metabolic+pathways+in+aging&btnG=>

Newman, Anne B., et al. “Weight change and the conservation of lean mass in old age: the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 82.4 (2005): 872-878.

From <https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C10&q=aging+weight+gain&btnG=>

Salih, Dervis AM, and Anne Brunet. “FoxO transcription factors in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis during aging.” Current opinion in cell biology 20.2 (2008): 126-136.

From <https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C10&q=foxo+gene+aging&oq=foxo+>

McCartney, Neil, et al. “Long-term resistance training in the elderly: effects on dynamic strength, exercise capacity, muscle, and bone.” The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 50.2 (1995): B97-B104.

From <https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C10&q=resistance+training+elderly&btnG=>

Special shout out to my previous physiology professors for being great teachers and working on the whole alphabet soup thing!

Meal Plan 1/14/2018

I’ve decided to start sharing my meal plan for each week so that others can use the recipes if they are looking for inspiration on what to cook up each week. I am in no way a magnificent cook and all of these recipes were found online (I have included the recipe source for each to give credit where it is due). I always advise not to copy others diets blindly without researching the pros and cons of eating their way, but sometimes having an example can help create a bank of ideas to build off of. Please remember that if you are not a 125 lbs female you will need to alter this meal plan to fit your caloric needs. And of course, since I am vegetarian and you may not be, you can always add meat.

Breakfast: Vegan Breakfast Cookies

https://www.mydarlingvegan.com/2017/01/gluten-free-vegan-breakfast-cookies/

These are really tasty and easy to eat quickly in the morning. The ingredients can be a tad expensive, but if you buy them once you will be able to make multiple batches before they run out.

 

Lunch: Vegan Lasagna

https://www.hummusapien.com/easy-vegan-lasagna/

This was one of those recipes I expected to taste just kinda “eh”, but it actually ended up tasting quite good! I used oven ready lasagna noodles which worked out pretty good (you just can’t put a layer of these on top, they have to be covered in sauce to cook). I’m sure you can put what ever vegetables you would like in it if the ones included are not your favorite.

 

Dinner: Tofu BLT

http://www.amuse-your-bouche.com/tofu-bacon-blts/?utm_source=Amuse+Your+Bouche&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=425ddf13b4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_122fad5579-425ddf13b4-143716757

Weirdly enough the marinade combination of maple syrup, soy sauce, and chipotle comes out pretty bacon-like. I’ve made this one several times and keep coming back.

Meal Prepping in A Nut Shell

Today I want to talk about meal prepping because it is a habit that took me quite a while to get into, but is essential if you want to eat healthy on a busy schedule. I won’t sugar coat it for you, it is a time investment. I dedicate 2-3 hours of my Sunday to making my meals for the week but I promise planning ahead does pay off.

One unfortunate thing that you will have to get used to when meal prepping is eating the same thing for the entire week. This is a turn off for many people and it isn’t always glorious, but if you are cooking for one person as I do the majority of the time, it can save you a whole lot of money. One way I have spiced up my weekly menu is by picking one night to go out to eat/order in. For example, my roommate and I designated Thursday nights as “Mexican food, Sandra Bullock Movie Night” where we would get take out burritos and drink a Bud Light Lime while watching Miss Congeniality. I knew if I stayed on track with my eating for the rest of the week, I got to enjoy that night of splurging and chick flick-ing. On other week days I would switch what meal I ate for lunch and dinner to keep it as interesting as possible. If you are meal prepping with a significant other or friend you may be able to afford a little bit more variety by making two dinner choices and two lunch choices to alternate back and forth each day. Just make sure that you are honest with yourself about the healthy meals you choose to make. Will you really eat them or are you just wishful thinking about eating brussels sprouts every night for 7 days? (a mistake I will not make again). There is a fine line between eating healthy and forcing yourself to eat things that taste like soggy cardboard. (Ok, brussels sprouts can taste good when prepared right, but I am still searching for that magical recipe) Meal prepping is a change, but it is doable. The plus side is that you eat healthy, always have a lunch to bring to work/school, never have to cook dinner when you are exhausted, and you save money.

First you want to make sure you have the essentials. You need something to store your food in. You may need to clean out your fridge to free up some shelf space for your portioned out meals. You can go pick up 21 plastic containers for around $15 at Walmart or Publix. You can buy super fancy expensive Tupperware designed for meal prepping but you don’t really need it and you don’t need a huge container either. Modest sized containers can teach you a lot about portion control. My rule for myself is if you can’t fit it roughly into a cereal bowl, you are eating too much. I like to use containers like these pictured below. (Best part is, when they get stained and gross from tomato sauce you can just pop them in the recycle and pick up a new set for close to nothing).

Next, you need to be semi-ok at math because you want to make sure that what ever recipes you choose will cover 7 days. Many recipes will tell you how many servings they create. Make sure you multiply the ingredients out in order to cover 7 servings. I like to get all of my recipes off Pinterest because you are able to easily save them for later and Pinterest now has a feature where you can read reviews of recipes. Other people who make the recipe can post a comment and a picture of how the recipe turned out. I have avoided quite a few dud recipes that way and find it super helpful to see a realistic photo. Pinterest is also really good for finding a bulk of recipes that fit certain dietary needs such as vegetarian, vegan, low glycemic index, high protein, etc.

Once you have purchased your ingredients you do need to take a minute to think through how you are going to prepare everything. I have been meal prepping for a while now and it still gets a little sketchy every once in a while when the timer goes off for the oven but my hands are covered in the marinade for my tofu and I accidentally started cooking something in the pan I need for a different recipe. Timing everything in order to not spend all day cooking takes some practice but it is also a fun challenge. It is extra nice if you have a dishwasher to just pile all your dirty dishes in afterwards. It can cut down your clean up time by around 30 minutes (a luxury I do not currently possess). Try to pick a time to meal prep when no one else plans on being in the kitchen that way you have all the available space you need when things get crazy (and so they won’t judge you when something catches just a little bit on fire…)

Once you have all your food prepared and you have divided it out into portions in your containers you can sigh a breath of relief because you don’t have to cook anything else for the entire week! You’re done! Now you just have to stick to your plan. There are some bumps in the road you may face when trying to make yourself eat veggie stir fry for the third night in a row while watching your non-meal prepping spouse or friend eat pizza. If you find compliance to be a problem check out my post “The Purge” which lists some strategies to avoid giving in to food that is not on your planned menu. Specific to meal prepping, it is important to always plan ahead for packing food as well. Before you leave the house in the morning decide whether you need to pack your dinner too. If you are going over to someone’s house in the evening you can always bring your food just in case, that way you have something to eat if everyone else decides to get food. I carry around a lunch box with me all the time. People stare at you a little funny at first, but they get used to it. As a vegetarian, a lot of times I need to bring my own food anyways or I don’t have anything to eat at other people’s houses. Again, meal prepping/planning is a change and takes practice/repetition to make it a successful habit.

BONUS POINTS: It is always important to make sure you are getting the nutrients and calories you need when you are eating the same thing all week. You don’t want to go multiple days without getting the vitamins or protein intake you need for your body to operate at its best (you don’t want to crash on Friday night when you are at your most vulnerable and binge eat) and you want to make sure you are getting the proper amount of calories for your weight goal (even if it is just weight maintenance) . If you want to be super on top of your diet, you can use an app to enter your food plan for the week and see if it is lacking anything important. I personally use “My Fitness Pal” an app you can get for free on your phone or through your computer. You put in your age, height, gender, activity level, weight and weight goals, etc. and it gives you suggested amounts you should be consuming of each important vitamin and nutrient and tells you an estimate of the calories you need to eat each day.  Once you put in the ingredients for your 3 daily meals for that week, you can see if you need to add or adjust anything to meet your personal dietary needs. Try to do this before grocery shopping for the ingredients in case you need to pick up anything else. It is a little bit time consuming, but is worth it to make sure you are getting what your body needs. The app also has a bunch of other cool features such as weight log/progress photos, water log, and an exercise log. Check it out!

As always feel free to comment with any questions, suggestions, stories, epic monologues,  movie quotes, what ever floats your boat…. Happy meal prepping and happy New Year!

 

Journey To the Gym

I had a request to write about actually getting to the gym, because truthfully getting to the gym is more than half the battle. Even if you know all about what to do at the gym and what to work on, you still have to get yourself there and that is no easy task. Not. At. All. But if you do manage to get yourself into the gym, you will at least complete half a workout and that is half a workout more than you would have done that day. The more regularly you go to the gym, the easier it gets to continue to go. Therefore, I wanted to provide some motivation and mental tips to help change your mindset to be more gym friendly, so that you don’t lose your way on your journey to the gym. Just get to the gym, and the rest will come. Here are a few strategies that help me when getting in my car to drive 5 minutes to the gym seems impossible.

Strategy #1: Trap Yourself at the Gym

I named this as strategy number one because it is the most extreme but also the most effective. I have found that if I have no choice but to be at the gym, then…shocker… I will end up working out to pass the time. The way that you do this is you have to pick a transition time, a time where you have just enough time to go to the gym, but not enough time to go home/take a nap/finish a significant amount of household chores, etc. For me, this was before work. After work was hard for me to follow through with because during my workout all I would think about were the many things I should be working on at home instead and I would cut my workouts short. So I opted for the dreaded morning. Getting up early enough to get in a 40 or so minute workout and a shower before work can be really rough for people like me who hate mornings, but if you can power through the first week or 2 of a morning gym routine, it does get easier. And once you get there, you don’t have time to do anything else except workout. You aren’t going to drive back home and get back in bed, and you aren’t going to go to work an hour early (ew). All you can do is work out or sit and wait, so you will work out. Students, time between classes is a perfect opportunity to try out this strategy too. Don’t feel like doing homework between classes because you brain is dead? Go to the gym instead. (Worried about showing up to class sweaty? It is high school/college. People show up in torn pajamas…..wear deodorant and you will be fine.) This sets aside a designated time window where your only choice is to work out. And the best part is, when you get home at the end of the day, you are perfectly entitled to face planting in bed, because you already worked really hard.

Strategy #2:  Boy Scout Motto: “Be Prepared”

If we want to think about actually making it to the gym as a true journey, then you have to prepare! Would you go on a long hike without bringing the things you need to make the hike a success? Of course not (at least I hope you wouldn’t). The same thing holds true for the journey to the gym. Watch out for these dreaded obstacles on your proverbial gym quest:

1.       Hunger: pack the nearest meal to your target time of gym attendance. If you are going after work, don’t kid yourself about making it through a long work day AND a gym workout while you are “hangry”. It isn’t going to happen and it is going to result in one of two outcomes: Outcome A- you pass on the gym because you are going to pass out if you don’t go home and eat pasta right now. Outcome B- you are going to go to the nearest food establishment regardless of how unhealthy the food is, you are going to purchase comfort food, and you are going to skip the gym because now you feel gross because you ate too much Publix macaroni and cheese. (Ok these are oddly specific, but you get the point). Pack dinner if you go to the gym in the evening, pack lunch if you are going between classes, pack breakfast if you can’t eat first thing in the morning and you’re aiming to be a sunrise gym attendee. Don’t let lack of food be your excuse. A good workout starts with a satisfied stomach and this is the perfect opportunity to “trap” yourself into eating a healthy meal too because it will be the only thing you have with you.

Wardrobe malfunction: Always keep gym clothes and a spare set of normal clothes in your car. I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten that second wind I prayed for to go to the gym after getting off of work and realized that I don’t have gym clothes. Then I go home, take one look at my dresser, sit on my bed, and never leave my apartment for the rest of the day. Or I have what I need to go to the gym, but its 5pm and my friends are going out to dinner at 7pm, and I don’t have anything to wear except my khakis and a polo or my potentially sweaty gym clothes. Be prepared to go to the gym at all times, that way when for some reason you actually feel like going, that breath of fresh motivation isn’t snuffed out by lack of equipment.

 

Strategy #3: Location, Location, Location.

1.       Avoid the Home Vortex: sign up for a gym that is on the way home from work/school. It is infinitely harder to make yourself drive past the warm bed waiting in your home to go work hard at the gym. Make the gym a check point that you have to pass BEFORE you get to your house geographically and whatever you do, do not join a gym that is even further from your house than your job/school. You will never go out there.

2.       Try not to join a gym that is next to your favorite place to grab a snack. For example, I once went to a gym while I was on clinical rotation that was right next to a Panera. I have a Panera card, I love Panera hot chocolate, and you can get as many side baguettes as you want with a Panera order on their self serve kiosk for $0.00. Sometimes when you are tired, hungry, and a broke college student, a $3.00 dinner of bread and hot chocolate sounds like a good idea. Anyways, the point is don’t set yourself up for temptation to eat back what you just worked off. (P.S. a lot of those “post workout smoothies” are over 500 calories, especially if they contain peanut butter. If you are on a diet of around 1500 calories per day these probably aren’t the best post workout reward unless you want to count them as nearly half of your allotted food for the day. Take it from a 5’3″ female.)

Strategy #4: Accounta-bila-buddy

-If you have someone expecting you to go to the gym, it will make it harder for you not to go. Find a friend, significant other, or just meet someone random at the gym if you are the social butterfly that I am not and go to the gym at the same time. Then you will know, that they will know, if you don’t show up that day. Not only will you feel like you have to prove yourself each day, but you will also have more fun working out with a friend. Having a workout partner of similar fitness level encourages you to keep up with each other’s strengths and challenge each other’s weaknesses. In the end you both end up pushing each other to be better. You can also find someone who is really good at going to the gym and have them “adopt you” as a fitness buddy. Many people enjoy helping others get into fitness. This might be a good option for someone who feels overwhelmed by the gym to have a little more guidance. Just make sure you can safely keep up without hurting yourself.

 

-Sign up for a fitness class that you pay for ahead of time. At my college’s gym, if you don’t show up for a class you signed up for you get a warning, and then after the third strike you don’t get to go to classes anymore for a certain period of time. As long as I made myself sign up, I would always show up because I didn’t want a mark on my gym record and the instructor of the class always made me work out harder than I would have on my own. Classes are a great motivational tool if you need some help fulfilling your gym time or if you haven’t yet found a gym buddy. If you pay for it, in a package deal for example, you are more likely to go.

Strategy #5: Let Your Type-A Flag Fly

One strange thing about me is that I like filling out forms, checking off boxes, and writing in planners. Organization and stationary is soothing to me, and disorganization or incompleteness is like nails on a chalkboard. So if I wrote a box for each day of the week and checked off all the boxes except for Tuesday, it would bother me to no end that one day in the middle of the week didn’t get a check mark. How does this have anything to do with working out? I made myself a workout calendar. Aside from meal planning and other notes about school, each day in my planner I get to put a star next to the date and write what workout I did that day. If I didn’t work out, then a painfully blank space must remain in that slot. It’s perfectly silly, but I somehow found a way to make a neurotic tendency of mine into something motivationally constructive. If you are a type A person, this may work for you too. A related strategy may be keeping track of your excise sets/reps in writing in a notebook or spreadsheet. After each exercise you get to fill in the box with what you did as a reward. There is something satisfying about seeing a filled column of numbers in fresh ink at the end of a workout (not to mention it keeps you on track for progressing your exercises).

Strategy #6: On a serious note, remember what going to the gym means

If all else fails, remember that the health you currently have is a blessing and that you should take care of it. I once had a patient who had beat cancer. Her motto was “Get up, Show up, and Never give up.” She said that every day when she felt like she couldn’t take any more chemo or treatments or therapy, she would say that line to herself and no matter what she would get out of bed and end up where she needed to be. She said it was one of the reasons she was still alive. Many times when I feel like I can’t make it to the gym, I think of her wise words and remember that it could be a lot harder. There are people who wish they could go to the gym, and being strong and healthy is one of the best protective factors I can give myself against what many others face.  So get up and show up to the gym. It is amazing what you can accomplish with a little effort to not give up on your fitness goals.

 

 

New Year’s Healthy Eating Challenge

We all know New Year’s Day is that magical day where we can make any change we want and we WILL do it this time. However, a mistake that I’ve made, that I’m sure others have as well, is that change is hard and it is easy to be over ambitious with your promises to yourself. Last year I decided to be vegetarian, again, and it was hard. While I was pleased with the changes I made this year and plan to continue to eat that way, this year I decided to try something a little less drastic. Here is my New Year’s Challenge to you (and to myself) to eat healthier in a progressive, manageable way.

 Here is how it works:

Below is a list of 12 simple healthy eating challenges. Take them and list them in order of easy to difficult (or difficult to easy if you’re feeling motivated) based on your personal opinion and assign a rule to each month of the year. Put your list somewhere where you will see it often. Each month it’s up to you to uphold the corresponding challenge you assigned for the ENTIRE month. Here’s the catch. When you get to the end of the month, that challenge isn’t over. You have to keep up last month’s challenge AND the new one. Then the third month you have to keep up the first 2 AND the third, and so on until at the end of the year you have completely changed your diet for the better by following all 12 rules. No doubt it will still be extremely hard, but this method is a way to approach changing your diet realistically, giving you a more focused achievable goal each month of the year rather than quitting several things cold turkey on New Year’s Day. People tend to have more overall success when they try to reach small related goals one by one than if they try to tackle their biggest goal all together at once. Think you can do it? I guarantee you will feel better by next December and quite possibly may lose a few pounds along the way. Good Luck, I know you will do great!

(If you feel strongly about another diet goal that better applies to your needs, feel free to trade it out with one of the ones I listed. Eating better should be about you and your lifestyle. Just remember not to completely ignore the rules of physiology when creating your own rules)

 ***Certified National Cheat days: Christmas (or equivalent holiday of your religion), Thanksgiving, Your Birthday, Your Wedding

Here is my list (remember to rearrange any way you like, but once it is set you have to stick to it!):

January: No Soda/Sugary Drinks Fun Fact: The average price of a soft drink at a restaurant comes in at about $2.00. If you saved all the money you would have spent on soft drinks or liters of soda at the store, imagine what you could buy. Increased sugar intake bombards our body’s natural processing of sugar (glucose) and can lead to development of type 2 diabetes which can then lead to a myriad of other health issues. Technically this challenge includes coffee too, unless you drink it black. But I’ll let you decide whether you can survive without caffeine or not.

February: No Chips/Salty Snacks An increased intake of sodium (salt) can lead to high blood pressure, which puts you at risk for heart and blood vessel diseases. Try replacing these snacks with low calorie vegetables such as sliced peppers, carrots, or edamame

March: Eat Vegetables at Every Meal Disclaimer: it doesn’t count if you smother them in butter, try spices. The many colors of vegetables are attributed to the variety of essential nutrients they can provide. Try to make your plate as colorful as possible to make sure you are consuming the different types of nutrients you need.

April: Drink 3 Bottles of Water Per Day Water is involved at least in some way in almost all body processes. You are technically supposed drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day. If you think you can achieve this, then go for it! For most of us though, just adding 3 bottles will be a huge change.

May: No Fried of Fast Food Increased fat intake can also increase your risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. If you are trapped and have absolutely no choice, get a salad or a fruit cup just so you have something to eat with your friends or family (watch that dressing fat content though)

June: Limit Eating Out to 1x/Week Restaurant food is swimming with butter, sodium, and sugar. If you want to be social, go out with your friends and just order a water while you sit and talk. It is extremely hard to sit through a meal at a restaurant without eating and is not a recommended solution, but it can be done. Just eat before you go.

July: No Eating After 8 P.M. Night eating is a bad habit that many American’s practice. When you eat right before you go to sleep, your metabolism slows down because you are not moving for hours and we typically eat things that we don’t need at this hour, for example snack food or dessert.

August: No Alcohol Alcohol not only encourages fat storage, but drinks containing alcohol are often high in “empty calories”. This means you are spending your already sparse calories on consuming something that has no nutritional benefit to your body. Tip: buy flavored carbonated water and sip on that during parties/gatherings in your own cup, that way those around you won’t ask why you’re not drinking, they’ll just assume it is a mixed drink

September: Bread/Pasta only 3x/Week Unfortunately, bread should never be a side dish….RIP Olive Garden endless bread sticks Carbs are not a bad thing, we just often eat a lot more than we should. Try to eat whole grain bread and pasta on those 3 days if you can.

October: No Candy or Cookies A tough one for the month of Halloween, but if you can make it through the whole month with this rule, you can surely stay strong on the very last day. You wouldn’t want to ruin all your hard work.

November: No Cake or Ice Cream I personally had to leave this one for the month AFTER my birthday. You might want to plan accordingly too!

December: Learn 5 Recipes Following all 12 Rules! Solidify your new found healthy habits by teaching yourself a way to sustain them